Popular Tropes of Identity in Contemporary Russian Television and Film

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by Irina Souch

Type

Essays

Subject

Countries > Russia / USSR

Keywords

Russia, sociology, 1990s, 21st century

Publishing date

2017

Publisher

Bloomsbury Academic

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 246 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-1-5013-2906-7

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Book Presentation:
This book is an exploration of the changes in Russian cultural identity in the twenty years after the fall of the Soviet state. Through close readings of a select number of contemporary Russian films and television series, Irina Souch investigates how a variety of popular cultural tropes ranging from the patriarchal family to the country idyll survived the demise of Communism and maintained their power to inform the Russian people’s self-image. She shows how these tropes continue to define attitudes towards political authority, economic disparity, ethnic and cultural difference, generational relations and gender. The author also introduces theories of identity developed in Russia at the same time, enabling these works to act as sites of productive dialogue with the more familiar discourses of Western scholarship.

About the Author:
Irina Souch is Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Press Reviews:
"Parents and children. Us and them. Families in need of repair. Irina Souch analyzes these societal constructions (and more) through case studies of recent Russian popular films and television serials. By exploring the ways that post-Soviet culture has wrestled with individual, group, and familial identities, Souch persuasively demonstrates how contemporary Russianness is constructed through narratives that interpret the past while also reworking popular cultural tropes. Souch illustrates how television shows and films have played important role in the creation of new Russian myths of brotherhood, patriarchal authority, enemies, and family life." ― Stephen M. Norris, Professor of History, Miami University (OH), USA

See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic